THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
streamers of bleached seaweed, which gave the nest a novel and pleasing 
appearance.” 
In the Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1875, p. 578, Ramsay added : ‘‘ Very 
common all along the coast (of Queensland) ; they venture as far south as the 
Clarence river, where they are considered rare, and extend northwards to Cape 
York and coast of New Guinea.” 
North, in the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., no. 1, Vol. III., p. 225, 1911, gives 
the following note by Mr. Robert Grant : “ During our second trip to North- 
eastern Queensland, Mr. E. J. Cairn and myself were compelled through 
monsoonal rains to camp near Cairns. We had, therefore, an opportunity 
of seeing and shooting many Rufous-backed Fish-Eagles {Haliastur girrenera), 
as they were very numerous in the Mangroves about the mud-flats around 
the bay. As the tide went out nearly half a mile, and left exposed many 
hundreds of dead or dying fish on these evil-smelling and sweltering mud- 
flats, it was a perfect paradise for these Fish-Eagles ; however, as the feathers 
were much abraded, and their plumage soiled, of the many we shot there was 
not one worth keeping to prepare as a specimen.” 
In the same place appear Mr. G. Savidge’s notes as follow: “ I have not 
had much opportunity of observing the habits of Haliastur girrenera, but 
there is one pair always about Yamba Bay, Clarence River Heads. I have 
seen them after the fishermen have hauled their nets come to the place and 
pick up and carry away the smaU fish sometimes left there. One pair came 
regularly nearly every morning and perched on a high piece of jutting rock 
quite close to our house : the rock formed part of the retaining wall there. 
The fisherman whom I mentioned the fact to told me these birds often take 
away any fish left about, and even take the fish from the nets, which are left 
for a few hours, the fishermen often coming home before daylight, and their 
nets bundled ashore, to be hung up later on. I was shown fish with their 
claw marks quite plain on them. No person at Yamba, as far as I could 
ascertain, knows their breeding-place, but they seem very tame, and the 
fisherman said they were quite a nuisance to him. During one of our dry 
seasons, in 1902 I think, a pair resided about Copmanhurst Wharf for several 
months during the winter time ; they were living principally upon the garfish 
which came up that year in very large shoals. This pair of birds remained 
so long I was in hopes they would breed, but as spring came they disappeared. 
Their backs are a beautiful chestnut-red when they wheel about, and the sun 
shines upon them.” 
Cornwall {Emu, Vol. VII., p. 172, 1908) from Mackay, North Queensland, 
wrote : “ The White-headed Sea-Eagle {Haliastur girrenera) frequents the 
mouths of the rivers and creeks along the coast, rarely going far inland, and 
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